‘Evangelist’ in jail for fraud

Nana Kwame Asare Junior, 24, has
been sentenced to twenty-one months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to
four counts of defrauding by false pretenses at a Cape Coast Magistrate court,
Ghanaweb report.

Asare Junior, a self-acclaimed
Evangelist is said to have defrauded Madam Susana Dadzie,a nurse and Veronica
Mensah, a hairdresser of GH¢2,500.00 and GH¢2,200.00 respectively, under the
pretext of securing admission for their wards at Premier Nursing Training
School in Takoradi and Cape Coast Nursing Training School, but failed to do so.

He also defrauded Madam Rita
Johnson, and Lucy Brown, both traders of GH¢3,710.00 and GH¢1,710.00
respectively under the pretext of providing a store at the new Kotokuraba
market, and also getting Lucy’s son to undergo a stress-free interview at the
US Embassy.

Pleading guilty to the charges, Asare
Junior, also a CCTV camera installer pleaded with the court to temper justice
with mercy and said he was ready to pay the monies to the complainants.

The Court presided over by Ms Rita
Amoaniwaa Edusah sentenced him to three months imprisonment on the first count,
eight months on the second and third counts, and 12 months on the fourth count.

The court further ordered Asare
Junior to pay all the monies before Friday May 11,2018.

Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector
C. Hevi, told the court that Susana Dadzie in 2014 wanted admission into a
nursing training school and Asare offered to help her get admission at the
Premier Nursing Training School in Takoradi.

He said Asare collected GH¢2,500.00
from Susana under the pretext of going to pay her fees and went into hiding.

He said all efforts to trace him
proved futile until he was spotted at the Bakaano Police cells in Cape Coast
after his involvement in a similar case.

Chief Inspector Hevi said in 2015,
Asare requested Veronica Mensah to pay an amount of GH¢2,200.00, and that he
could secure admission for her daughter at the Cape Coast Nursing Training
School.

He said after collecting the said
amount, Asare went into hiding and all efforts to trace him also proved futile
until arrest.

Prosecution again told the court
that Rita Johnson and Lucy Brown used to visit Asare for spiritual help and
prayers.

He said during the Month of
November, Rita told Asare that she wanted a store at the newly constructed
Kotokuraba market.

Asare offered to help her secure
one and collected an amount of GH¢3,710.00 from Rita and went into hiding.

In the same month, Prosecution said
Lucy’s son attended an interview at the US Embassy in Accra but was
disqualified.

He said Asare upon hearing the news
offered to help Lucy’s son and collected an amount of GH¢1,710.00 from her
under the pretext of securing another interview for her son to travel outside
the country.

Asare again went into hiding and
refused to pick Lucy’s calls. Lucy then lodged a complaint with the Police
which led to Asare’s arrest in his hideout at Atabandze.